dwc43

Thanks. Just need to get it finished up. Looking forward to your build.

Great kit there. I'm using one to create the car from the movie Hot Rod. Not a good pic, but here's some inspiration.

Great job so far. Yeah, that kit has the old MPC universal chassis. They stuck it under every NASCAR car they made back in the day. Only difference is the engine and the body. Salvino's seems to have better NASCAR replicas.

Yes. The moved the front wheels forward as far as they could and used a lightweight K frame. Moved the rears forward as well. It had 56% weight on the rear wheels sitting on the scales. Tires were retreaded truck tires for a long time. That's why you see the scallops on the top of the sidewalls. And they were better than a street tire back then, but still junk compared to a modern slick of the same width. Really needed the weight transfer to get them to stick back then.

That makes sense. Short tubes are for top end, so that would go good with the 4 spd. Whereas long tubes add more torque or bottom end to the car which would work better with the auto transmission.

Short stacks are for top end where long tubes and/or cross rams are for lower bottom end torque. Wheels are too big; tires side walls are too short. this will allow you to choose based on what the car is supposed to represent.

Great looking car. I had a few of the real ones myself. Heavy, but still pretty fast with a big block in them. I want to get one of them and build the car from Burn Notice. Loved that car, even with all its incorrect parts on it. They painted the steering column and steering wheel white in the car on the show. I think they were trying to make the interior of the car cooler since it was filmed in Fla. and it's hot and humid down there.

That's how we built the real ones too. The 70 Road Runner was the last drag car we ran. Full steel body 440, 727, 8 3/4 with 4.30 gears. That bad picture is a Plymouth Road Runner dirt track car. The other is a late model dirt car we ran. But that one is all tube frame, and all hand built, all race stuff period. Nothing like going sideways at a buck 20 with the LF about 8 inches off the ground. lol

Anything from the 80's on back, it's better to buy a separate factory stock streetcar kit and use the stock chassis under them. Mid late 70's is where they started to build more race ready front clips for these cars and then at some point in the late 70's to early 80's they all switched to that '67 truck are suspension they used for some many years. I have pics of a Petty Charger one of the last ones they ran, which would be a 74 body with updates for '75, '76, and '77. It has a squarer tube front frame rail with a tubular K frame for header and oil pan clearance. That's about the time dry sumps were coming into use as well. Still had leaf springs on that car since that was how they came stock.

Those MPC kits have great bodies, but the chassis are all universal. Only the engines are different. I remember watching the real version of that car on the track.

Just FYI in case you did not know this, but it has a race car chassis not a stock car like the original one on tv. You can see on the box art it has at least a 12-point cage in it.

It is, hope that helps you.

3D Printed 1/25 Reese Trailer Hitch and Receiver | eBay

P-40 Flying Tigers WWII airplane decals would look pretty nice. Copy and print the ones below. And here's the link if you want to buy some. P 40 Warhawk decals - Google Search

If you can't find one, check this site out. They might have what you need. Model Trucks — Sour Krauts Model Trucks

WOW. I did not even think it was that low. I was born in 69, after my Dad got back from Nam. So, I missed out on the 60's.

If the glue was a dime and a quarter for the bottle, how much was the kit? $2 bucks?

That's awesome. I just ordered the Pontiac Lemans. I gotta have one of these to go with the car.

Good start. But for future reference that distributor sits at an angle to the passenger side on big block engines.

That was my problem too. Every interior shot I found had black seats in it. I could not find an interior pic of any of the Chaparral cars that had a roof on it at all. I'd go with black if it was mine. Side question: Can anyone say why the Sucker cars doors were left bare aluminum instead of painting them white to match the rest of the car? Wreck, maybe, but both doors. No. Maybe they were not completed in time before painting and the race. No. Gotta be a reason for that, but I've never heard what it might be.

The starter wire does look big in the pic. I built and raced mostly dirt and asphalt circle track cars, but I did drag race in the beginning. With 2 batteries in the trunk and no alternator for power we used a very large 00 ga wire. With alternator we ran 0 and with the battery behind the driver's seat we dropped down to a 1 or 2 ga wire. 00 is like welding cable size and it's very big. There's a chart below. Maybe you can figure out how to scale the wire that you need. Hope that helps some. Tell me that Road Runner drag car of mine does not look the 70's typical nose down rear up big drag slick car. lol And there's nothing like sliding sideways at a buck twenty with the LF 6 to 8 inches off the ground under full power coming of the corner.

Smaller one for sure. Don't want to see the empty hole behind it, unless you put an engine in the back of it too.

Looking good to me.

I have one of those that I started and boxed back up. I need to find it and finish it. Not a bad idea opening up the rear screens and putting some wire in there would look great. I cut an engine in half and put that in my car. I should have cut the floor pan out and put the hole engine in there. Maybe I will since my skills have improved a lot since I started that kit.